Grain dbill



(No Model.) v

- J. W. RHODES.

GRAIN DRILL. No. 355,716. Patented Jan'. 11, 1887.

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JOHN V. RHODES, OFI-IAVANA, ILLINOIS. I

GRAIN- DRILL.

SPECIFICATION Eoraning part of Letters Patent No. 355,716, dated January 11, 1887.

Application filed June 17, 1886. Serial No. 205,480.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. Rnonns, of Havana, in the county of, Mason, State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Grain- Drill and I do hereby declare that the follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In grain drills in which a front frame carrying the runners and seed-dropping mechanism has hinged thereto another frame having the press-wheels and drivers seat it is generally customary to mount said wheels upon a single shaft, the ends of which are supported by bearings fixed to the frame. When, however, the grain-drill is extra wide and six or more presswheels' are mounted on the shaft, the drill I have found to Work imperfectly owing to the inability of all the wheels to reach the ground when thelatter is somewhat uneven. To overcome this defect and construct a wheel-carrying frame that should enable each wheel to press the ground with approximately the same force, I have invented the following, which consists, essentially, of two or more independent frames, each hinged to the runnerframe and having its own shaft provided with presswheels, and in means for causing each of said presswheel frames to support its due proportion of the weight of the driver.

In the drawings connected with this specification, Figure 1 is aside elevation of a graindrill provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of my invention modified to adapt it for wider grain-drills.

The front frame, L, of the graindrill has the seed-box N mounted thereon, and carries the runners M, as in similar planters. To said front frame beneath, and at the ends of the seed-box N, are pivoted or hinged the ends of the separate frames P, each carrying a short shaft, S, having wheels W mounted thereon. Each frame P consists of side bars, P, united at their rear ends by a short cross-bar, P, somewhat loosely secured together, so that there can be unequal vertical play of the rear corners of each frame. As the space between the Wheels is comparatively limited,

' and there is not, therefore, room between any two neighboring wheels to admit two side bars, P, of the frames P, I have the short shafts S project beyond the sides of the inner (No model.)

bars, and on each projecting end is mounted a wheel, W, the frames P being made sufficiently narrow to admit the two wheels between them. The two frames P, I then couple together at their rear ends by means of the short bar A, pivoted at its ends to said frames at points approximately equidistant between the outermost wheels of each frame, as shown in Fig. 2. From the center of said bar A extends a-support D up to the seat B, from which extends the beam Gto the front frame, L, where a suitable hinge permits of vertical play, but no lateral deflection. Hence, the driver being seated upon the seat B, his weight is transmitted to the center of the bar A, and thence equally divided between the two frames P.

The exact position of the pivotal points A, which connect the bar A to the end bars, P, is not in each case behind the center wheel, W, for the reason that the frames P are not located symmetrically with respect to their wheels,

and hence their weight is unequally distrib uted upon the wheels, and also for the reason that the drivers feet, being supported upon the inner side bars, P, would give additional change of the center of gravity of the frames.

Experiment must, therefore, determine precisely said points A.

In Fig. 3 I show a portion of a grain-drill in which are ten press-wheels mounted in three separate frames, P. In this case the bar A, A

supporting the seat B, is pivoted to additional bars A whose ends are pivoted to the proper points of the three frames. In all cases, however, whether two, three, ormore frames P are employed, the principle remains the same that of so supporting the seat B that the weight of the driver is equally divided up among the frames, or in proportion to the number of press-wheels carried by each.

So far as I am aware it has never been attempted to mount the press-wheels in' two or more separate frames hinged to the runnerframe, or to distribute, by means of suitable distributing bars, the weight of the driver equally among the frames.

By rigidly securing to the upper end of the the leverage of the Weight of different drivers shall equally tend to raise the runners. Removing the bolt 13, the seat B can be moved back or forward on the bar 0' until the proper position is found to best adjust the drivers weight for the graindrill, and then said bolt inserted into the bolt-hole 0 coming nearest to the right place.

I am aware that prior to my invention roller attachments for grain-drills have been constructed in which pairs of press-wheels were independently connected to the runner-frame and the drivers seat was adapted to be equally supported by said press-wheels. I do not, therefore, broadly claim the same, but only the particular construction set forth.

What I claim as my invention, and for which I desire Letters Patent, is as follows, to wit:

1. In a grain-drill, the combination, with the runner-frame, of the frames I, hinged to said runner-frame, the shafts S, held by said hinged frames, the press-wheels mounted on said shafts, the distributingbar A, pivotally connected at its ends to said hinged frames, the seat B, supported above the center of said bar, and the beam 0, joining said seat to the runner-frame, substantially as specified.

2. In a grain-drill, the combination, with the runner -frame, of the frames P, hinged thereto, the shafts S, held by said hinged frames, the press-wheels mounted on said shafts, the distributing-bar A, pivotally con-- JOHN \V. RHODES. '[L. s]

Witnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, A. KEITHLEY. 

